GARRISON, N.Y.: Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival has announced its 2018 summer season, featuring five productions (June 7-Sept. 3, 2018).

“If the purpose of playing is to hold the mirror up to nature, as Shakespeare wrote, then our 2018 Season aims to do just that, with five plays that reflect our world today in powerful and surprising ways,” said artistic director Davis McCallum in a statement.

The season will start with The Heart of Robin Hood, by David Farr, about a young woman who flees to the forest to escape an impending marriage, and inspires Robin Hood and his band of men to stop stealing from others. Tyne Rafaeli will direct.

Next up will be Shakespeare’s Richard II, a story of power and privilege told through the lens of a flawed and ill-fitting king. McCallum will direct.

Following will be Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew, about a young woman unable to marry until her older sister, who is averse to marriage, finds a husband. Shana Cooper will direct.

The season will continue with HVSF’s first commission, Rip Van Winkle; Or, Cut the Old Moon Into Stars, adapted by Seth Bockley from the story by Washington Irving about a dreamer who falls asleep in the Catskills and wakes after 20 years. The cast will include 40 citizen actors, and the free performances will take place around the Hudson Valley as part of HVSF’s Full Circle initiative. Bockley will direct.

Next up will be the world premiere of The Sea-Maid’s Music, devised and directed by Zachary Fine, a clown show about  the mystique of mermaids that served as a source of literary inspiration for Shakespeare, and for anyone and everyone who hears the call to make art out of nothing. The HVSF Conservatory Company will perform the show, which is the company’s first commission.

Founded in 1987, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival presents classic and contemporary works in an open-air performance tent overlooking the Hudson River at historic Boscobel House and Gardens.